Reviewed by Ray Smith, Monday 9th March 2015
Emma Donovan and the Putbacks opened the final day of
WOMADelaide, on Centre Stage with an exhibition of good, solid soul. They performed strong and bluesy pieces with great skill and Emma Donovan's powerful voice was a well received wake up call for the last day of the festival.
Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino appeared on Stage 2 with their infectious, driving Italian music that had the audience dancing and cheering as the tamburello frame drum pounded out the rhythm.
The double-chantered zampogna (Italian bagpipe) featured strongly and it was a joy to see such a signature Italian instrument on a WOMADelaide stage. It was a brilliant performance from a band that has been handed from parent to child since 1975.
Ramzi Aburedwan and Ensemble Dal'Ouna were on Stage 3 performing superb music and songs that spoke of the strength and the sadness of the people of Palestine. Oud and bouzouki met accordion and viola in a demonstration of cross cultural harmony and a disdain for arbitrary borders.
Four Play String Quartet,, on Stage 7 were mesmerising with their unique approach to string quartet arrangements. Violins were strummed or picked like mandolins, the viola became a drone and the cello a bass guitar. They were utterly beautiful.
The Australian Folk band Kamerunga took to the Zoo Stage with new and intelligent interpretations of the songs of the genre. They took old and rather tired pieces away from the camp fire and the dusty shearing shed, dressed them in clean new clothes, and proudly paraded them along the 21st Century city street very successfully.
Jupiter and Okwess International brought music of the Congo and African politics to Stage 2 with heady afro rhythms that had people dancing instantly just as they had on Centre Stage on Saturday.
Meanwhile the Gloaming were preparing for their one and only show on Stage 3. Their take on traditional Irish music is new, unique and refreshing. Ballads sung and played alongside syncopated 'broken' reels, an impossible combination perfectly realised. The musicianship was beyond compare as the frenzied pianist moved from jazz to classic styles and back again providing a surprisingly level foundation for the two fiddles to build upon. Gaelic ballads with sparse piano and violin left the audience enthralled and silent.
Buffy Sainte-Marie burst onto Centre Stage with great enthusiasm and an excellent band hailing from Canada and the United Stage. I refuse to believe that she is 74 years old and based on the energy and power of her performance she doesn't believe it either. The familiar tremolo in her voice was still there for all to hear and if the underlying tone was a little more fragile I chose not to hear it. It was so good to see her up there doing what she does best.
Lake Street Dive hit Stage 2 like a truck as their drummer beat his kit mercilessly in a less than conventional style. This absolutely rock solid outfit flitted between soul, jazz and country effortlessly as the vocalist tore into the songs. The double bass was handled masterfully in a very jazzy solo, as the excellent guitarist took up the trumpet and proved to be excellent playing that as well. They were a very impressive show.
Adelaide's own Timberwolf played on Stage 7 Chris Panousakis's brilliant singing ably supported by a strong band. They are such a young band that if you added up all their ages it probably still wouldn't qualify for a pension, but the music is great. It's sophisticated, mature, well written and very well played. It gave this jaded old hippy hope for the future of Australian contemporary music.
Criolo played on Centre Stage and though my first thought was, "more repetitive rhythms and simple chords" there were more complex elements in the mix. Amongst the familiar strong drum base there were more subtle Latin rhythms and the keyboard riffs were distinctly Brazilian.
There were some decent ballads amongst the dance pieces too which allowed a break from the relentless pulse of drums that pervaded the weekend. Criolo had good interaction with the audience during these quieter spells but they were rather short lived and before long the dancers danced and the critic didn't.
Barra, featuring Djala Gurruwiwi and Gotye appeared on the Zoo Stage. The show opened with yidaki and clapstick supported dances and songs, and it was wonderful to see traditional Aboriginal culture, music, dance and storytelling represented at WOMADelaide. The crowd was huge and the relatively small PA was having trouble reaching the listeners at the back. I had to wonder how many of these people were here to see Gotye rather than the traditional musicians and dancers that were the core of the show. If they were hoping for a Gotye concert they would have been very disappointed. Wally De Backer (Gotye) took a very minor role in the proceedings and was just one of the musicians and narrators of the show. He was deferential and respectful and stayed out of the limelight. My respect for the man went up several hundred notches.
The headline act on Centre Stage, Sinead O'Connor, opened her set with the confession that she would leave her sunglasses on for the first few songs because she was rather intimidated by the sight of the size of the assembled crowd. I had heard earlier in the festival that attendance records had been broken yet again this year so she was probably looking out upon 90,000 people. She sang brilliantly and her band was tight, well rehearsed and played flawlessly. It was a very professional show and the audience simply adored it. I must admit that when I saw her name on the programme I was hard pressed to recall more than two songs of hers, but her performance was brilliant. It was also a very welcome change from the endless, supposedly ethnic, variations on the narrow hip-hop, drum & bass, rap, "I've got a sampler and I'm not afraid to use it", Americana that we suffered all weekend.
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